


This City Is Barely Breathing

by BlueDarknessIceHeart



Series: Fire Starter//Ash Covered [4]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Arguments, Established Relationship, F/M, Minor Injuries, The Red Plague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 13:49:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14021628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueDarknessIceHeart/pseuds/BlueDarknessIceHeart
Summary: The plague, thisthingthat had swept in overnight was killing their people,hispeople in droves. Bodies are in streets the first time she brings it up, it's what feels like the hundredth time she's pushing the issue they're both exhausted and bodies are starting to pile on the Lazaret.The Courtiers calling for them both alongside Nadia with an idea brings absolutely no comfort.





	1. Idle Hands

It used to be rare for Lucio to be the one that cause her temper to rise, the vicious thing it was - a match held to dry field. The plague curling its way through Vesuvia had changed that, the lack of anything coming from her lover pulling at her already raw nerves. 

Alia could hear the sound of a servant trying to ask her what, exactly, was wrong as she breezed past - the voice drowned out by her own pulse in her ears. 

Their people - _his_ people - were dying in droves and he was sitting around entertaining nobles and it pressed at old wounds. 

"Darling." her voice was calm, the door to Lucio's chambers closing behind her with more force than she intended, the rattle of it dropping the smile from his face as he turned to face her. 

"Alia, my sweet, there is nothing I can do about it." his tone was cold, nearly mocking and she moved closer. 

"You're the Count of Vesuvia, you can mobilize anyone and anything you please with a snap of those pretty golden fingers. Get people working on a cure, or back the ones already out there trying their damndest to find one." Alia let him place his hand on her hip, the pointed armor coverings on his fingers pressing into her bare skin. 

"Except it won't do anything, it'd only stave off the inevitable." Lucio pressed against her hip harder and she laughed. 

"Lucio, those people used to be us. Those nobles you can't stand, that mean nothing to you, that only sing your praises because you meet some ideal they wish they could be? They would never understand the shit we've been through," Alia trailed a hand up his torso, the metal adorning the tips of her fingers drawing red lines across his chest, "The people who are dying in the streets right now would, in a way. Those are the people who count, in the end, darling. Idle hands make for fretful minds, and fretful minds instill new leaders with enough reason." 

Lucio made a noise, silver eyes looking down at dark grey as she waited. 

"And if I say no?" the challenge against her was clear, and her laughter was almost bitter. 

"Lucio, darling, if karma doesn't hit you for killing your people like this for this long then I fucking will." she dug her fingers into his jaw, metal biting into flesh harder than her nails would have. His own gifts to her coming back to bite him. 

It was silent, his fingers digging almost painfully into her hip in response to her grip on him before lightening, Lucio's eyes studying her face carefully. 

Alia knew what she was doing, otherwise he never would have kept her this long. Wouldn't have let himself get this... involved. 

She watched him think, could feel his pulse against her wrist and the small uptick that came with the process of working through the facts that the bodies lining the streets and only now starting to find their way to the Lazaret were only the start of this.

"Alright, firecracker. I'll... I'll find something." she let go of his jaw, and his head dropped to her shoulder, letting her run her fingers through his hair. 

"This is only going to get worse, you know." the anger had seeped out of her voice, and he sighed against her. 

"Oh, I know. I just don't know what the fuck I'm going to do about it, Alia."

"Pretending not to care is not a good start."


	2. Exhaustion

Discussing the plague, this _thing_ that had swept through the city nearly overnight, was going to be what tore Vesuvia's leadership apart. 

Lucio had started wearing down months ago, and Alia was going down alongside him if not doubly so. Carrying the weight of loving the Count and working as an aide to him resting on top of her concerns as a healer - how no doctor could identify what, exactly, was ratcheting the death toll higher by the week; why the only telltale sign of infection was when it had spread past the point of control and showed by the whites of the eyes turning red. 

Nadia had walked in on the typically vicious duo fracturing under the weight of each other. 

"Darling, Luce, _Lucio_ , you have to give them access to what we have." 

"We can't risk the spread of infection into the palace, 'Lia - Alia, it could spread to you, to me, to Nadia." 

"Do you think I care if it spreads to me right now!? Our people are dying, _your_ people are dying and only a handful of doctors are even trying to do a fucking thing because there's been nothing from the palace!" 

Lucio blinked, eyes going wide and Nadia watched quietly from the doorway. 

"What-" 

"If you don't _say anything, you ass,_ people won't do anything. The ones out there up to their elbows in blood and ash are not the people with the money to back research or supplies. Make. Your. Nobles. Do. Work." Alia's finger pressed into his chest with each word, her head tipping just the right way to allow Nadia to catch the quick glint of tears on her freckled cheeks before Lucio swiped them away with a tenderness she'd never seen from him. 

It was the dip of his head that brought the thin lines of blood to Nadia's attention, clearly from the metal that adorned the witch's fingers; a parallel of his own armor. The Countess had, apparently, missed the more volatile parts of their argument. 

It was quiet, the two somehow stitching together what they'd just torn apart for the sake of shoulders losing their tension, Alia's metal-free hand combing through Lucio's hair and his thumb tracing the scar on her hip. 

"Who needs what, Nadia?" Alia's voice sounded like a wire tightened too far, the breaking point a wrong move away and Nadia's movement into the room brought the redhead's dark circles into view, the exhaustion evident just in the way she was leaning into the Count for more than comfort. 

"The Courtiers have ideas they wish to discuss with the Count,"Alia's eyes were the only pair she found, dark grey not accompanied by Lucio's silver, "Your presence has also been requested, Alia. Not like it was optional for them, you'd be dead before you let Valerius breathe unguided." 

Nadia was gone before Lucio could lift himself away from his lover, her thumb running over the darkening circles under his eyes, frown only serving to exaggerate her own lack of rest. 

"I'm fine, save your energy, firecracker." he kissed her palm, quick and gentle, before wrapping an arm around her waist. 

"This isn't going to be pleasant." 

"Oh, I know." 

Alia ran a hand over Mercedes' head, the two canines padding alongside the two of them. 

She disliked the air of the meeting the second they walked in, and the way she tensed next to him put Lucio on edge. 

"What, exactly, did you need?" his sharp tone was nothing new, but everyone was running low. The plague was taxing the Countship, and the Courtiers were being dragged down with them.

"We've been discussing how to potentially stave off the rising death tolls-"

"If you've managed to actually put your money where your mouth is and supply the doctors risking their lives on the Lazaret I might die from shock." Alia's words ground at nerves, she could see it in the way Valerius' jaw clenched, and her temper managed to find the lack of _actually doing that_ appalling. 

"No, we figured more along the lines of a temporary halt in trade and-" 

"If you say closing gates, a _quarantine,_ I might actually hit you." Alia pressed her fingers to her temples, and heard Lucio lean onto the table. 

"How would cutting off our _trade_ help, Valerius?" 

"It would protect our allies from the-" 

"And kill our people faster!" 

All eyes turned to her, the sudden flare of magic enough to have Valerius pushing his chair away from her and Nadia arching a brow. 

"Our doctors need supplies _now,_ and no one is supplying them. If we cut trade, we only increase our chances of people starving, or other diseases taking over alongside the plague." She knew the streets, _Lucio_ knew the streets, the Courtiers did not. If this was why they'd requested her, the wild woman's blessing for a faster death, they'd thought horribly wrong.

"Not to mention the fact the people would riot, and come for Lucio's head, and then all of ours." she dug her fingers into her palm, gaze locked onto Valerius as she tried to reign her temper back in - the Consul slowly moving back into place as her magic crept away from him.

"And why should we not issue a quarantine?" he sounded unsure, almost, looking to the Countess for some sort of assistance; the Count and his witch always reactive on good days hurtling towards uncontrollably explosive with their temperamentality. Nadia gave him nothing except a cold, dismissive, glance. 

"Panic." Lucio was quiet next to her, head down and eyes fixed to the table until Alia's hand came to his shoulder, the warmth a reassurance. 

"If we issue a quarantine, we issue a formal death sentence. We'll create sections of the city that will overflow with disease, and eventually the dead." Lucio sounded calm, almost, compared to the lover at his side. 

"If you incite a panic, again, you may incite the not-so casual overthrow of your precious seat in the Court." Alia was cold, sharp, the way she sounded before issuing death orders or taking a life herself - and it did nothing to soothe already frayed nerves for those on the other side of the table. 

The two of them had quietly, naturally, migrated back to each other; pressed side to side as a reminder they weren't alone in this. 

Valerius cast his gaze to Nadia, "And what is your opinion, Countess?" 

"That we need a cure. Alia has quite the point there, the primary solution can't be found considering we aren't properly supplying our doctors. " 

Alia gave the Countess a small, grateful smile. The quick nod was all she needed, the easy confirmation between friends. 

"We issued-" 

"Except you didn't. You're entirely incapable of handling paperwork." Lucio had drawn himself up entirely beside her, anger finally flaring and showing in bared teeth. 

"Is there anything else you need?" 

"No, _witch,_ not from you."

"It has nothing to do with me that you're so detached from humanity and common sense that you can't think to issue a _writ,_ and that goes for all of you. You're failures as Courtiers, you've consistently failed your Count, your Countess, your city, your _people_." Lucio had let her go, the way she talked with her hands a dangerous thing to be holding onto. 

Valerius was the one who stood first, hands hitting the table and she smiled. 

"Did I strike a nerve, Consul?" 

"You have no right to stand there-" 

"Watch what you say, Consul." the Count, directly behind her, snapping a warning and Valerius arched a brow. 

Alia's smile turned into a wicked grin, "You see, Consul, there's a reason they speak of the loyal witch behind the Count's throne with awe and the Courtier's with annoyance or for gossip. I get shit done, and you continue to make mistake after mistake - costly ones, too. I helped this reign _exist_ , I have every right to stand here and point out your flaws." 

She waited, watching for a moment. 

"You will not issue a halt to trade, and there will be no quarantine. However, I want at least one of you idiots to figure out places for the dead, and where quarantine zones could be set up if it becomes absolutely necessary, since the people have already quarantined most of those infected to the Lazaret anyways." Lucio spoke up from behind her, his anger nearly holding its own presence with hers. 

"And, Valerius, I want you to keep in mind that if I had been selfish - if I had for one moment set aside politics and done what I wished - it would not be Nadia sitting there but me and you would be long gone." her words had a bite she hadn't intended, and she saw the slight upturn of Nadia's lips. 

Lucio practically swept her out of the room, letting her bury herself into the cloak on his shoulder. 

"Can we sleep?" her voice was muffled, and he peered down at her. 

"Of course, sweetheart. How are you holding up?" 

"I could ask you the same thing, love." 

"Can we both agree on the fact we feel like shit?" his laugh was brief and tired, and she smiled up at him, "Yeah, yeah we can." 

They made quick work of his prosthetic, clothing landing in a pile on the floor - collapsing into bed in a tangle of exhausted limbs with blankets haphazardly pulled over them. 

His "I love you" was muffled against her neck, but she returned it all the same.


End file.
